Patent attributes
A direct reading prism pole has a tubular housing having an open top, a flange at the open top, a conical bottom portion for wedging the tubular housing into ground soil, a height-adjusting rod partially inserted into the tubular housing by a friction fit, a lip positioned at the top of height-adjustable rod, a laser sensor mounted to the outer surface of the tubular housing for emitting a laser toward the lip to take height measurements of the distance between the laser sensor and the lip, an electronic control unit for receiving the height measurements and providing height reference data, an electronic display for displaying the height reference data, an audio device for emitting an alarm indicating movement of the height-adjusting rod with respect to the tubular housing, and an output device for sending the height reference data to a data collection device.